Friday, 17 May, 2024
A huge majority of 71% of the respondents were of the opinion that Bihar was indeed going back to the era of Jungle Raj
There was so much news related to the political crisis in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court bench fully exonerating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the nominations for the presidential election that a story from Bihar barely made it to any newspapers or TV channels. According to CCTV footage available, some criminals barge into a jewellery shop in broad daylight where customers are present, wave their pistols, beat up the owner and shoot him dead before decamping with jewellery. While data from the National Crime Records Bureau comes after a considerable time gap. Latest figures available for 2020 show that it comes second in number of murders after Uttar Pradesh and tops the list when it comes to attacks on police officials. A clearer picture will emerge when NCRB releases official data for the year 2021 later this year. But anecdotal evidence clearly suggests that crime is becoming rampant and brazen once again the state. While there were widespread protests fo a few days across the country over the new Agneepath scheme to recruit soldiers for the armed forces, the protests in Bihar were extremely violent. Unruly mobs burnt down multiple trains and destroyed railway stations; they set buses on fire and randomly attacked public property and even attacked police stations in many places. The audacity and violence displayed by the mobs dismayed many Indians. Some political analysts ascribe the growing violence to tensions between the two allies Janata Dal (U) and the BJP who together rule the state with Nitish Kumar of JD(U) as the chief minister.
What ever be the reason, a big majority of Indians seem convinced that Bihar is once again slipping back into Jungle Raj. This was revealed during a C Voter-India Tracker survey was conducted to gauge the sentiments of Indians on the issue of rising crime in Bihar. Overall, a huge majority of 71% of the respondents were of the opinion that Bihar was indeed going back to the era of Jungle Raj. Surprisingly, more than two thirds of respondents who were categorised as NDA supporters shared the same sentiment.
Predictably, while 75% or three of of every four female respondent was worried about rising crime in the state, a lower 68% of male respondents were worried. In a rare occurrence, the responses from upper caste Hindus and Muslims, which diverge on almost all issues, were identical in stating that Bihar is going back to Jungle Raj. The most worried were respondents in the 25 to 34 age group. They have just started their careers and naturally worry about rising crime adversely affecting their future.
When Nitish Kumar had first become chief minister of Bihar in 2005, he had promised an end to Jungle Raj. In his first term and beyond, he did get praise from many quarters for curbing crime and making the state safer for women and businessmen and professionals who used to be routinely kidnapped for ransom. But in the last few years, the same commentators who praised him earlier are now baffled over his seeming inability to curb rising crime.
